Free Republic

While the future of reparations in California remains uncertain, state lawmakers are continuing to push forward with related legislation despite a lack of clear consensus on broad direct cash payouts. Most recently, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Ladera Heights, introduced Assembly Bill 2599, known as the Truth in Disclosure Act. The bill would require major corporations doing business in California with annual worldwide gross receipts over $100 million to review their historical records and submit sworn affidavits disclosing any past ties to chattel slavery.

A US Air Force flight en route to Antarctica was forced to return to New Zealand after receiving a warning of "potentially hazardous" space activity. The alert was confirmed by New Zealand authorities on Wednesday. New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued the warning after being informed by Russia’s State Air Traffic Management Corporation, which led to the decision to turn the flight back. The warning was disseminated through a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). The flight, originally departing from Christchurch, New Zealand, is a part of the annual Winter Fly-in (WINFLY) operation, which connects Christchurch with Antarctic research facilities. Impact...

Randy Fine did not merely win a Republican primary in Florida. He decisively turned back one of the strangest and ugliest primary challenges in recent American politics. Randy Fine won roughly 57% of the vote in Florida's 6th Congressional District, while social-media influencer Dan Bilzerian finished below 19%. Bilzerian had tried to make the contest a referendum on Fine's Jewish identity. His campaign descended into explicit antisemitism, including an AI-generated attack video portraying Fine through antisemitic stereotypes and material invoking Adolf Hitler. The rhetoric became so blatant that political leaders from both parties condemned it. The voters' answer was emphatic:...

I am a Portland mother of three. My oldest son, now 26, attended Lewis Elementary and had such a positive experience there that my husband and I built our home only blocks from Lewis so we could send our two younger children there as well. Lewis wasn’t just our neighborhood school. It was the school our family already knew and trusted. I’ve lived my entire life in Portland, Oregon. I am also a Christian, and I believe parents have the right and the responsibility to know what their children are being taught. I never imagined that asking would get me...

You’re going to see this clip and wonder what the heck a civic agent is. It’s a bit hard to explain to an American, because we don’t really have anything like this, except for maybe a “mall cop.” In Spain, it’s a public-order officer who patrols Barcelona’s streets and public spaces, dealing with nuisance behavior and calling police when things get too serious. And according to local reports out of Barcelona and a clip shared by the UK’s Tommy Robinson, an unruly migrant was confronted by these “mall cops” and things got crazy pretty quickly. One of the civic...

Bond yields climbed Thursday, erasing most of the pullback they saw the previous day after the Treasury Department announced an intervention aimed at easing pressure on longer-dated government debt. The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond — the primary focus of the accelerated buyback — was up more than 4 basis points at 5.236%. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys — the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt — moved more than 4 basis points higher to 4.696%. The 10- and 30-year yield levels were right around the level they held before the 8:30 a.m. announcement...

Dear Scott (if I may). Last Monday, you criticized me, arguing that McDonald’s problems are instead due to competition from rivals like Burger King. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent @SecScottBessent McDonald's problem is called Burger King, Professor. No wonder Bill Clinton fired you. UC Berkeley should too, if that’s what passes for “research.” Robert Reich @RBReich Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week the K-shaped economy — the widening economic gap between the rich and the poor — is "dead." Hogwash. (By the way, Scott, Bill Clinton didn’t fire me and Berkeley won’t, either. But your boss has a well-recorded...

Former Rep. Eric Swalwell, the disgraced California politician accused of rape, was reportedly confronted by FBI agents at San Francisco International Airport, where they seized his electronics as part of a federal criminal probe. Agents served Swalwell with a search warrant Saturday after he arrived in California and seized his cellphone and other electronics, the Daily Mail reported. Sources told the outlet, agents also executed additional warrants at Swalwell’s Washington, DC, home Sunday, where they seized other potential evidence. Swalwell, 45, was reportedly cooperative during the airport encounter. The investigation comes as the former California congressman faces multiple allegations of...

Forget a six-figure MBA—the path to the C-suite can start with a forklift certification. At least, that was the route for Ron Vachris, the CEO of Costco. Today he leads one of the world's largest and most admired companies, with a compensation package worth nearly $14 million. But Vachris never set out chasing the corner office. Instead, he approached his career one step at a time, guided by advice from his father, a utility lineman. "I wish I had the vision back in the '80s about what this industry and what this company could be," Vachris said last month at...

Washington, D.C. – Live Action, one of the nation’s leading human rights organizations, and Thomas More Society released a statement in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent from pro-abortion legal group Amplify Legal, which is affiliated with parent organization Abortion in America, which is a project of George Soros’ Hopewell Fund. The letter, which was posted online, argued that Live Action News published “false and defamatory” articles about 13 clients, all individuals who chose to publicly share their abortion stories. It demands that Live Action remove all related published material and immediately retract statements where abortion is described as “killing”...

I wanted to get some advise from FReepers who have walked this road. I have my first ever sleep study scheduled this weekend. Reading the prep literature makes me wonder how I'm going to sleep when I'm hooked up to all kinds of gadgets. I know I'll eventually sleep, but being away from home I'm not sure it will be a fair representation of the type of sleep I get at home. What do I need to be prepared for and to bring?

South Carolina’s Sen. Darline Graham (R) defended her headline-making debate performance — in which she blurted out “I’m not that informed on national security” — by insisting she was just “being honest.” Graham, 62, was appointed to finish out her brother Lindsey Graham’s term after the elder’s sudden July 11 death at age 71, and is running for a shot at the full term this fall after being endorsed by President Donald Trump. While Lindsey Graham was a well-known foreign policy hawk who spent decades in Congress, his sister tried to backpedal during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News’ Hannity,...

[Short video worth watching] Content below from "Independent Women's Voice." As Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed candidates gain momentum across the country, radical policies are increasingly being repackaged as appealing, mainstream answers to the economic pressures facing Americans. Independent Women’s Voice is using a new generation of campaign storytelling to challenge that sales pitch and expose what those promises made by the DSA platform could actually mean for Americans. Today, Independent Women’s Voice launched “Take Me Back!” Borrowing from the time-travel magic of the iconic film “Back to the Future,” the ad transports viewers into a future shaped by the...

For years, the United Arab Emirates has been a lifeline for Iran’s sanctions-battered economy, despite political tensions between the two countries. But that relationship was imperiled on Tuesday, when the Emirates announced a total embargo on trade and transactions with the Islamic republic. If the threat holds, Iran would lose not just a major market for its goods but a portal to the world economy, analysts say. The embargo highlights both the depth of the economic relationships that Iran has cultivated across the Gulf region and the strain they are now under. The war that the United States and Israel...

As thousands are deported, San Diego County supervisors banned ICE from their firing range. “Providing training grounds for Trump’s deportation force is a slap in the face.”

As you may have seen, August 13, 2026 would have been the 100th birthday of Fidel Castro. Fidel had retired as Dictator of Cuba all the way back in 2006 at age 80, and then died ten years ago in 2016. Commemorations of people who have been dead for ten years should be reserved for those who did something worthwhile in their lives. In Fidel’s case, during his more than half-century of absolute rule over Cuba, he brought poverty and ruin to the island’s economy and people. Yet somehow he remains a hero to the Left. If you don’t believe...

44.0% – Senator Tom Cotton (Republican) 47.4% – Hallie Shoffner (Democrat) 3.0% – Jeff Wadlin (Libertarian)

The Iranian terror state’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, attended an event to mark the would-be 100th birthday of dead communist mass murderer Fidel Castro in that country, Iranian state media revealed on Tuesday, using it as an opportunity to promote Iran’s war against the United States and demand diplomatic and economic support.Fidel Castro was born the son of a wealthy white landowner in Santiago de Cuba on August 13, 1926. His family’s dynasty, which is in its 67th year of tyrannical control of the island nation, marked the occasion with a variety of events in Cuba and around the...

Americans visiting beaches, neighborhood pools, summer camps, and resorts this summer are likely to encounter foreign workers...These workers are in the United States on J-1 exchange visas - a program the State Department promotes as an instrument of cultural exchange and public diplomacy.

When a California couple wanted their surrogate, McKenna West, to abort the baby she was carrying, she fled to Texas. There, pro-life laws and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton helped save the baby, ensuring he got the care he needed. But as Democrat state Rep. James Talarico challenges Paxton for Senate, it raises the question—what would Talarico do? West, an Alaska nurse and single mother of two, agreed to serve as a surrogate for Californians Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar. At the 20-week anatomy scan, doctors diagnosed the baby boy with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a serious but treatable condition....